Frauenkirche rebuilt in Dresden

[redjames2004]

Recently in Dresden,over 100,000 people attended the re-conserated Frauenkirche church that was rebuilt in 10 years. It started in 1994 shortly after German reunification. The huge Protestant church was restored to its former glory with private funds. The original famous church was built from 1726 to 1745 and dominated the Dresden skyline until it went down after the Febrauary 1945 firestorm. Shortly after WW2 Germany was divided and Dresden was in Soviet Zone. The East German government decided to leave the old Frauenkirche in ruins as reminder of Dresden firestorm. The ruins stood until 1990s. Then people in Dresden in 1994 decided to rebuilt the famous church with private funds. The bell-shaped dome with small copper dome topped off with golden cross that was made in London now dominated the Dresden skyline as it used to be before February 1945 firebombing. The top German religious leaders and leading German politicans including the newly elected Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Chancellor Gerhard Schoeder attended the re-conserating ceremony. This huge church now is open to public. The interior inside this Dresden church was AWESOME!!!!!

[Roy Queen]

I would love to attend a church service in such a historic church. If I am not mistaken, was the composer Johann Bach somehow associated with this church? I'm glad to hear that the church has finally been rebuilt.

[torstenbel]

I would love to attend a church service in such a historic church. If I am not mistaken, was the composer Johann Bach somehow associated with this church? I'm glad to hear that the church has finally been rebuilt.

No, from memory, I think Bach was working at the Thomaskantor in Leipzig, but not in Dresden...last time I saw the Church would have been on a trip to Dresden in 1999....Dresden in its own right is well worth a visit and very impressive...in fact, if you go on a trip to Berlin in any case, then you should also take the train south to Dresden (takes about 2 hours I think) and spend at least a day in Dresden....Cheers, Torsten.

[SCHUPO]

Torsten,

I agree that Dresden is a beautiful place. Last time I was there the church was just in the first stages of the process of being restored with numbered stones laying all about in open sheds on the grass. I visited the police headquarters next to the church located in a rather cold DDR modern style concrete and metal building. I recall that my local police colleagues were unsettled about that restoration. There was a feeling that there seemed to be a rush to bury the past by refurbishing and rebuilding too many things that had to do with both the NS Zeit and the DDR Zeit as well. The church had been left as a monument to the war in the same way as the bombed out church on the Ku'damm in Berlin. Of course the Reichstag was rebuilt and reoccupied in a manner that left the damaged shell intact and that seemed to gain wide public acceptance. The decision to demolish the DDR Parliament is another controversial decision that one wonders about.

Quite a lot to consider. But in the end, German citizens have to decide how and what to preserve. It is an interesting process for a US historian to watch.

George